November 6, 2012

SO THE THOUGHT OCCURS...:

...though surely not original, that elections are like sporting events, but with one huge beneficial difference--our favorite team is always in them.

This explains the excitement we feel about tomorrow and the trepidation. Sure, we can comb through the party platforms and find some policy differences to gussy up the stakes of the contest, but, at heart, it's as much or more about how our team fares. Thus, just as you may find the star pitcher your club just signed to be a rather loathsome creature, but still root like heck for him to win that playoff game, so too do many of us who'd not have listed Mitt Romney or Barrack Obama in our top ten choices for the respective nominations suddenly find ourselves fully vested in them.

But, you know what, just like there's always next season, so too is there always the next election. And the party that celebrates in 1980 has to face 1982, of 1992 has to contend with 1994, of 2004 has to live through 2006 and of 2008 must suffer 2010. So, if we win, best not be too cocky. And if we lose, no point being morose. The Party of Freedom and the Party of Security are universal and eternal and we're lucky enough to live at a time when there's so little to choose between them that we get to bask in Liberty, peace and affluence, no matter which wins.

There's never a bad time to be an American, but Election Days are in many ways the best times.

For men, presidential-election nights affect testosterone levels as if they're watching their favorite team compete in the World Series or Super Bowl, according to a study that explored voters' reactions to the 2008 contest.

The study, published in October 2009 in the journal PLoS One, measured the testosterone levels of 163 men and women before and after Barack Obama's defeat of John McCain during the last presidential race. The study subjects, aided by chewing gum, gave saliva samples to researchers for testing.

Testosterone levels typically fall throughout a normal day. But levels stayed about the same among male Obama supporters on the 2008 election night. Among those who supported the losing side, the hormone levels dropped more than they normally would have--some 30% from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m., the study found. (The election's outcome didn't affect testosterone levels in women, as researchers had expected.)

It was as if the men weren't just watching the outcome but closely identifying with one of the candidates, said Kevin LaBar, a Duke University neuroscientist who helped conduct the study. Similar hormonal changes have been observed in devoted male sports fans watching their favorite team play, he said.